


Things You Wouldn't Do

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-04
Updated: 2006-02-04
Packaged: 2019-05-30 09:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15094022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: There were things you just wouldn't do. Not ever.





	Things You Wouldn't Do

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

TITLE: Things you Wouldn't Do  
AUTHOR: Kasey  
RATING: Gen, PG  
SUMMARY: There were things you just wouldn't do. Not ever.  
NOTES: I don't know who the "you' is in this, it's just...I think it's   
more like a generally-speaking thing. If I was writing it in French,   
I'd just use "on", which is like "One"..."One would not..." etc. But   
this is in English, so again, who is the "you"? I don't know. It's   
not really from first person, either, so if you're going "But wait...  
all of the normal people were talked about in third person, so who's   
left to be telling it?" there is no one. Or, if you prefer, you can   
just think of it as being some miscellaneous aide. However you wanna   
read it.   
FEEDBACK: Yes, please!  
ARCHIVE: Sure, just let me know where.  
DISCLAIMERS: They aren't mine.  
THANKS: To Lieutenant Erin, who fearlessly serves the Admiral. I've   
gotta get you some medals, girl, you earn `em. 

There were things you wouldn't do. 

You wouldn't yell at Sam, because he would just get all quiet and   
unresponsive to the point where Josh would start worrying at him, and   
it'd just do more bad than good. You would argue with San, sure, and   
he'd argue back. But you wouldn't just shout at him. 

You wouldn't yell at the President, either, especially not in the   
Oval Office, and not unless you were mentally ill. 

You would never tell Josh he was mentally ill, because then he got   
combative and offended and pissed off, and you wouldn't want someone   
with mental problems to be angry. 

You would never actually admit Josh WAS mentally ill, because it   
wasn't like he'd hear voices, he'd randomly explode because he   
couldn't stop the flashbacks. But surely that wasn't something to   
hold against him. 

You wouldn't mention drinking in front of Leo. 

You wouldn't mention that you wouldn't mention drinking in front of   
Leo. 

You wouldn't disobey Donna's rules, especially not when it had to do   
with how much work Josh could do, because if you did she'd make it so   
you couldn't see Josh whatsoever. 

You wouldn't call CJ an amateur � well, not unless you were Leo or   
Danny � because she had a harder job than a **lot** of people and you   
yourself wouldn't want to have to deal with the press as much as she   
dealt with them. And even if you were **were** Leo or Danny, you   
would only call her that when she **really** screwed up. Which   
wasn't often. 

You wouldn't talk to the President's family if you were a reporter   
because you would find yourself on a plane to Yemen. 

You wouldn't complain about the long hours except to the people who   
worked just as long as you. To anyone else, you would just smile and   
shrug and say "it's part of the job." 

You wouldn't think about why you would always just say "it's part of   
the job" whenever you'd want to complain and hurt someone for   
something you had to go do. 

You wouldn't do things without consulting at least three other   
people, because chances were good things would go wrong if you didn't   
consult first. 

You wouldn't ever talk about the end. About the "after the   
Administration". About "Eight years from now." About "What happens   
if he doesn't get re-elected?" About "Where are we gonna go?" About   
"We're all gonna be thrown to all sides of the country." 

You wouldn't talk about certain things in front of certain people.   
Like wars in front of Leo or the President, because both of them were   
old enough to have seen a war � one from the front lines, one from   
the homefront. Like divorce in front of Toby or Leo. Like being   
discriminated against in front of CJ or Charlie, like being out of   
the loop in front of Sam. Like feeling left-out in front of   
Ainsley. Like guns in front of Josh. And if you **would**, for some   
reason, be stupid enough to bring it up, you would suffer the   
consequences. Probably in the form of either further suffering or a   
monologue, or sometimes Puccinini. 

You would do a lot of things, you would have a lot of conversations,   
you would say a lot of things both that you meant and didn't mean,   
but you would not do those things. 

There were things you just wouldn't do. Not ever. 

  


End file.
